This invention relates generally to the field of oven seal arrangements and more particularly to an oven seal arrangement which is readily removable and serviceable.
Prior art oven seal arrangements have included seals mounted to the oven door as well as seals which are mounted directly to the main front of the oven. U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,651 issued to Welshofer et al on Aug. 3, 1971, teaches a self-cleaning gas-fired oven which includes a door mounted oven seal. The seal includes a sealing bead portion and a flange portion and is attached to the oven door by clamping the flange of the seal between the inner and outer door layers. This clamping action extends around the periphery of the oven door.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,571 issued to Scherer on July 29, 1980, discloses an oven having a seal attached to the oven front. In this arrangement, an oven liner is mounted within the opening of an oven body and a space is formed between the oven liner and the oven body. A gasket or seal is first mounted around the periphery of a cover panel and the cover panel is then attached to the oven body to clamp the seal or gasket between flanges 60 and 70 of the cover panel and oven liner respectively.
The prior art has thus shown seal arrangements which have been mounted on the door of an oven and seal arrangements which have been mounted on the front of an oven. Both of these seal mounting arrangements provide for clamping the seal to either the door or around the oven opening and require disassembly of structural panels to service the seal. There has been no known showing, however, of a flexible seal arrangement which is mounted on either the door or the front of the oven by sliding a retainer portion of the seal arrangement into a channel and then around the periphery of the door or oven. The retainer portion of this flexible seal arrangement is thus captured within a channel and a seal portion is disposed between the door and the front of the oven.